The Age of Realism

The Literature of the Late Nineteenth Century

The Age of Realism: Marked by the End of the Civil War: 1861-1865
Cost of the Civil War
The Human Cost
1,094,543 Casualties The North lost one out of ten The South lost one out of four Two percent of US population died in the Civil War, with only WWII claiming more lives; Estimated at 6.6 billion, which would be 165 billion today
94,000 in battle 64,000 to disease 110,100 in battle 224,580 to disease

Economic Cost

By the end of the Civil War

The Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment had abolished slavery The industrial North had defeated the agrarian South Social order grew based on mass labor and mass consumption;
The Industrial Revolution had begun
Steam power replaced water power Machines replaced hand labor

The Effects of The Industrial Revolution

Migration from rural to urban areas Independent, skilled workers replaced by semi-skilled laborers; Large corporations were established, devaluing the personal relationship between management and workers or company and customers.

Political Upheaval
Political power shifted to the laboring classes; Political patronage and graft caused civic corruption; The power of the federal government expanded during the Civil War;
National conscription laws; Federal income taxes levied; Paper money backed by federal government rather than individual states issued.

Mass Communication and Migration

Coast-to-coast communication
Pony Express (1860)10 days Telegraph (1861)just seconds to communicate across country Transatlantic telegraph cable (1866) allowed instant communicate with Europe Telephone patented (1867) By 1900, 1.3 million telephones in U.S. Coast-to-coast travel Transcontinental Railroad (1869) By 1889, coast-to-coast travel4 days

Alexander Graham Bell

Samuel Morse: Inventor of the Transcontinental Railroad Telegraph

Effects of Transcontinental Mobility

Increased commercial development Farm and ranching products available nation wide National retail organizations undersold local shop keepers

Time zones reduced from 56 to 4 in 1883

Richard Sears and Montgomery Wards Ready-made goods and clothes less expensive than local, hand-produced wares

Other Social Changes

Migration westward expanded the U.S. from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Growth of Industry
Steelmaking, the nations dominant industry Alternating electrical current (1886) American petroleum industry begins
Total population doubled from 1870 to 1890 National income quadrupled Gap between rich and poor widened Native American populations displaced and subjugated;

Growth of population

Civil Rights Changed

Reconstruction in the South ends by 1877
Poll taxes and literacy tests disqualified black voters Separate and unequal schools created White supremacy re-established More women entered the workforce All female colleges were formed: Vassar, Wellesley and Smith Women gained the right to vote in 1922 By 1910, one-third of largest cities foreign-born The Morrill Acct of 1862land given to states for establishment of land-grant universities

Womens rights increase

Foreign immigration increases

Need for public education increases

Intellectual Revolution: Changes in Thinking brought about by Changes in Society

Changes in science Changes in psychology Changes in philosophy

Science: Charles Darwin

Published The Origin of Species,
Hypothesized that man is the product of evolution, Man is special not because God created him in His image,
but because man had successfully adapted to changing environmental conditions and had passed on his survival-making characteristics to his progeny.

Psychology: Sigmund Freud

Believed that the mind could be understood in terms of repressed urges, usually sexual; Theorized an unconscious system of ideas that governs human reactions and response; Id, Ego, and Super-ego

Philosophy: Karl Marx

Explained human history as the result of class struggles; Human identity is defined by social context; It is human nature to transform nature.

Philosophy: American Pragmatism

Truth is tested by its usefulness or practical consequences; Truth is a commodity accessible on the surface of things; Its perceptible to the senses and verifiable through experience; Permanent truths exist apart from the material worldthe mind of God, Platos ideal forms
William James

From these social changes come two literary movements

Realism,
first begun as the local color movement

Naturalism

Realism
Begins in France, as realisme, a literary doctrine calling for reality and truth in the depiction of ordinary life.
Grounded in the belief that there is an objective reality which can be portrayed with truth and accuracy as the goal; The writer does not select facts in accord with preconceived ideals, but rather sets down observations impartially and objectively.

A Reaction against Romanticism

These authors sought to portray life as they saw it, insisting that the ordinary and local were just as suitable for art as the sublime.
Nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. William Dean Howells

Realism began in America as Local Color

A synthesis of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things; Definition of Local Color:

Literature that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region that exploits the speech, dress, mannerisms, and habits of that specific region .

Characteristics of Local Color

Settingoften remote and usually integral to the story; Charactersmore concerned with the character of the region than an individual quaint, stereotypical;
Narrator-- an educated observer from the world beyond whos often deceived Emphasis on dialect Use of stock characters

Plotnothing much happens, revolves around the community and its rituals

Themes in Local Color

Dislike of change, nostalgia for an always-past Golden Age; Triumphant trickster or trickster tricked; Tall tale-tradition, conflicts described humorously, larger than life

Characteristics of Realism
Subject matterordinary people and events; PurposeVerisimilitude, the truthful representation of life; Point of Viewomniscient and objective Charactersmiddle class, psychological realism Plot de-emphasized
Focus on everyday life Complex ethical choices often the subject Events are made to seem the inevitable result of characters choices

Themes in Realism
Humans control their destinies
characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it.

Slice-of-life technique
often ends without traditional formal closure, leaving much untold to suggest mans limited ability to make sense of his life.

Naturalism: A Harsher Realism

Definition: A literature that depicts social problems and views humans as victims of larger biological, psychological and social and economic forces.
Scientific determinism Psychological determinism Historical determinism

Scientific, Biological or Darwinian Determinism

Man has no direct control over who or what he is. His fate is determined by outside forces that can be discovered through scientific inquiry; Humans respond to environmental forces and internal stresses and drives, none of which can be fully controlled or understood
People are driven by fundamental urges like fear, hunger, sex The world is a competitive jungle,

Psychological Determinism
Man is a victim of his inner and subconscious self (Freud).

Historical Determinism
Historical or socioeconomic determinism (Marx): the world is a battleground of economic and social forces;

Objectives of Naturalism
Presentation is objective and detached Subject matterraw and unpleasant experiences which reduce people to degrading circumstances in order to survive; Setting commonplace and un-heroic Novelist discovers qualities in lower class characters usually associated with heroes
Suggestion that life on lowest levels is more complicated

Themes in Naturalism
Man is fundamentally an animal, without free will; Governed by determinism

Pessimistic view of human capabilitieslife is a trap

External and internal forces, environment or heredity control behavior; Characters have compensating humanistic values which affirm life; Struggle for life becomes heroic and affirms human dignity

The Ultimate Problem in Realism

Whose reality is portrayed?
Those in power, usually male, white and privileged

Whose reality is marginalized and ignored?

Those without power: women, people of color, people of lower economic means